Do Turtles Like Pizza Crust?

In case you were wondering, the answer is a resounding YES. Of course, is there any creature, great or small, who does not like pizza crust? Anyway, we went out for our favorite local pizza, then saved some crust to feed some geese at the little pond behind the restaurant. The geese got first dibs because we didn't see the turtles until we were down to two crusts. Anyway, there were about five turtles and they came swimming right up to the bank once they discovered we were sharing some tasty treats. DD got a kick out of seeing them sneak-attack the crusts.

We also saw some ducklings, goslings, fish and more turtles at the pond near DH's work. It was a nice treat for being cooped up all week with unnamed virus...

Epizooty Attack

Last night, DD woke around midnight with a low-grade fever. She wasn't feeling much better this morning, so I took her into the pediatrician's office. She has a virus: rest, plenty of fluids and Motrin doses every 6-8 hours. I just went to carry her some yogurt and discovered her asleep on the couch. Poor thing!

An Unexpectedly Wonderful Day

First, I woke up early, but not too early, and had some time to mess around on the computer. DD woke later, but played by herself for over 1 hour. Exclamation points fail to convey my happiness. As I was surfing, I decided to search one last time for a local used curriculum fair that I had remembered reading about. I found it, and it was today. So, I got us up and out of the house in record time in order to get some good deals. I found so many wonderful readers, workbooks, games, etc. Plus, I was able to meet some really nice people who shared their hs experiences with me. Lots of great advice. Plus, DD met some kids in the park and played hard for another couple of hours. She had such a great time. She was so absorbed with her friends that I was able to chat with some other moms. Good times.

We took a bike ride on a new-to-us portion of the greenway and she is conquering her fear of wobbling. She probably rode close to two miles. We saw a dead snake, which she wanted to keep in order to make a belt out of it like Mary Poppins (we just finished the audio book; if memory serves, they left that scene out of the movie:), several butterflies and a rabbit. We rounded out the night with ice cream. What a day!

Butterflies are free

We've been raising butterflies and this weekend they finally emerged from their cocoons. We had been preparing DD all along for the release, but we weren't sure if what we were saying was sinking in (are we ever?), so we were (very) pleasantly surprised when she announced that she would keep the butterflies for a little while, then let them go. She didn't even cry, but I almost did. My little girl is growing up.

Strawberry Fields Forever

We went to a strawberry patch at a local farm today. They took us on a hayride around their farm and showed us how they grow tomatoes and corn, how they grind the corn into meal for the animals, how they call the cattle to eat and, of course, how to pick strawberries.

Tremendous Tuesday

We made homemade granola today. I know, I know. How very 70s of us. But it turned out well, in spite of being slightly overcooked, so we'll definitely make that again. I found the recipe the on Boston Mamas site. I attempted to add a button to my blog, so if it's there, you should check it out. They have lots of great recipes and other neat stuff to read about.

We had a play date with some of our best friends. It was great to watch the girls play together. They pretended to be superheroes (thanks, Word Girl) and retire to their secret lair. They actually called it their secret lair. Awesome.

DD also read two books today: another Bob book and a Margaret Wise Brown book called I Like Stars. She had some difficulty, naturally, with bright, as we haven't covered the nifty gh combo, but otherwise did a smashing job. I did, too, if I may say so myself. I didn't ask to be read to or hint about books even once. How could I? I was up to my neck in granola...

Also, we saw a baby rabbit in the yard today. The girls were able to get so close. It really made their day. And mine too. Now if only we can keep the neighbors' cat away.

The Red Red Robin

goes bop bop bopping along. We're just bopping along, more like pinballs than robins these days, but our lives will settle down. I'm looking forward to a long leisurely summer with NO SCHEDULE. I was tantalized by a brochure from a local art school offering (expensive) art classes for 4-5 year olds, so I decided to check some drawing books out from the library. I found one that I think could teach ME to draw, which is saying alot. The artist's name is Lee Ames and he wrote the Draw 50 series of books. These are great instructional manuals that break each image into smaller parts, beginning with a basic circle. I can do that. It might not look exactly like the book when I'm done, but I think we'll both have fun trying. I'm also trying to work up the enthusiasm to make papier mache creations. I know it will be fun working with it, but my inner clean freak is shrieking at the very idea of the mess. Perhaps we can do it all outside??? We'll see...

Today I forced her to listen to opera while we played all of her favorite games. This was merely to appease those nasty little voices implying that I don't do anything educational anymore, since I stopped forcing the reading lessons. She took it like a pro, especially when I sang along. Nothing funnier.

We took her on the greenway tonight to ride her bike while DH and I struggled to keep up. She stopped to examine a wooly caterpillar; I was so grateful for the brief respite. She also found some wild strawberries, which she carried home to feed our soon-to-be butterflies that we are growing from Insect Lore. I hope the berries last. The caterpillars look pretty cozy in their cocoons.

Llama Llama Red Pajama

Darling daughter's mad at mama. I ate all of my mother's day candy, didn't share a bit, and got so busted with the empty box. In the interest of global cooling and the three Rs, I hid the box behind the trash bin in order to take it to the recycling bag out in the garage under cover of darkness. Didn't work. Oh what a tangled web we weave!!! It's been three days and I don't think I'll ever hear the end of it. I felt so bad that I bought special dark chocolate peanut butter at the store as a treat and now I've eaten most of it! I'm in such trouble. I feel even worse because my motto is "we share in this house." Yes, we do. Everything except fabulous Swiss chocolates...

Recovering

We are recovering from our visit with Grandma and Grandaddy. We had a blast, as usual, but DD was absolutely worn out. She fell asleep at 6:30 Sunday night. I fully expected to be awake before the birds this morning, but she slept in until about 6:30. Whew. She was one tired pup.

We played lots of games today: Franklin Goes to School, Monoply Jr., Uno, and Old Maid. She read six or eight Bob books today from volume 3. We borrowed volumes 3 and 5 from the library. I think we may purchase 5; it's more difficult than previous volumes, so it would be worthwhile to have our own copy. She informed me that I needed to get her more Bob books. Alrighty!

So far, I'm pretty pleased with my unschooling experiment. I'm now looking for worksheets that correspond to the material that's covered in Phonics Pathways. I plan to litter those around the house and only involve myself if she asks for my help (ha ha). I'll try, anyway. I have to work harder at facilitating instead of instructing (otherwise known as bossing).

Where can you go

when life is making you low/well you can always go/downtown. Even though we were far from low, we went downtown to the main library today to catch Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, which was a hit. We saw it twice. Hansel and Gretel is next, and we're so stoked.

We had a good day today, although I probably spent too much time cleaning and too little time playing. Note to self: play more, clean less. I think my spring cleaning fever has finally broken and I should be back to my normal, on the verge of slovenly self in no time.

I slipped a little today in my unschooling reading efforts. Our caterpillars arrived today (we are going to raise Painted Lady Butterflies) and DD announced that she was going to draw pictures for them and read to them. Naturally, I endorsed this heartily and continued to bring it up "naturally" (ha ha) all afternoon. Finally she said "I'll read to them when I want to" and that was that. Objectively, I can see that learning to read is going to be like potty training. I struggled and struggled to "train" her and she finally did it herself when she was ready. As soon as she learns to read, I'll forget all about how worried and obsessed I was, because I will have moved on to the next thing, long division or what have you. Will I ever learn?

A Clean(er) Garage

As I cleaned at least six years of accumulated stuff, i.e. junk, out of the garage, DD sat down and started to write. Words. Intelligible words that mean something in our language. She wrote "cat" and "hay" all by herself. I dictated the spelling for dance party and she wrote several numbers as well. I have secured the evidence for posterity.

Later, she picked up two of those books that I so artfully placed around the house and read them to me. She read two Bob books to us at bedtime and DH and I did a good job of listening vs. correcting. We just provided the word if necessary and moved on. Instead of hearing "I guess I'm not a good reader," we heard "Can I read another?" Music to our ears.

Unschooling Experiment

After a late night insomniac reading session (just myself, lest you think I keep DD up at all hours to learn her some reading), I decided to abandon our "school" (which consists of a few very painful minutes of reading instruction) and just litter the house with some new-to-her readers that I found at a consignment sale and hid for later use. I promised myself that I wouldn't stumble across them and innocently ask "What's this doing here? nor would I ask her to read them to me (which I broke this morning). She picked one of them up and read it this afternoon with no prompting, so I feel hopeful. I also picked up some phonics workbooks at the library with reproducible worksheets that I may also litter around the house as part of our experiment. I only know that what we've been doing isn't working well for either of us, and I don't want her to write some Mommy Dearest homeschooling expose when she's 12.

I'll keep plugging away at this experiment. I think I'm on the right track, but only DD can say...

Moderate Your Astonishment

That is my new favorite phrase, courtesy of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. We are going to see a puppet show at the library this week and I thought I'd prime the pump by reading a little Arabian Nights. It totally laid an egg; DD was not interested. Plus, I'd forgotten how the thieves were variously drawn-and-quartered, boiled in oil and stabbed to death. Good grief! We read a lot of fairy tales and I try not to be the overprotective parent who edits on the fly, but this was beyond my limits. I know grisly tales like this (theoretically) serve a purpose, but I'm just not up to explaining how to draw and quarter someone 15 minutes before night-night (or any time, really). So,I took the low road and read a heavily expurgated version. I'm "dying" to see how they boil the marionette thieves in oil. I'll let you know.

We're also listening to Nancy Drew, a classier Scooby Doo, if you will. Now I have a little sleuth who goes around the house discovering clues, a la "Look, a clue!"